Writing Effective Advertising Copy

As all businesses know, the more effective your marketing copy, the greater the conversation ratio and the higher the return on investment. But writing good copy that’s both interesting and effective can be a challenge: marketing copy needs to attract attention without creating that sense of hype.

I’ve put together a quick list of handy tips which should help make the task much easier. Let me know what works for you!

1. Start with a structure – before you begin actually composing copy, map out what key information you need to share with your audience. You need to make your promise, present your reasoning, and then close with a call to action. I use mind-maps to help me to lay-out the key concepts, benefits, offers, and all the key information I want to communicate. Arrows and links show me the logical flow or natural connections which I can turn into copy.

2. Take into account the format – advert, sales or squeeze page, leaflet or brochure, web-page. Space, lay-out, the circumstances in which the audience will read the content – all this will determine how much you say, how you present your content, and what kind of information you provide.

3. Think about your audience – who are they, what do they need or want? Your copy has to be engaging, exciting, and reflect their language and mind-set. Always keep your target audience in mind while composing copy to make sure it is in tune with them.

4. Yes, I’m going to say it – focus on the BENEFITS not the features! This is very important but is still the most common mistake made. Think like your audience and put yourself in their shoes – what gains, advances, or transformations will they enjoy by investing in your goods or services?

5. If you have (genuine) testimonials from previous customers or clients, include them to add weight to your copy. Buyers are susceptible to influences and are more likely to trust others’ experiences before they spend their money.

6. Remember that your potential customer doesn’t want to know the finer details if it’s an introductory piece. Right from the very start, they’ll want to know what’s in it for them as quickly as possible so that they can decide whether to spend time reading the rest of your copy!

7. After you’ve written your text, read it aloud to see how it sounds. Does it seem natural and make sense? Avoid jargon (don’t assume that your reader will know what it means because you do). Good copy flows naturally with simple words and ideas which the audience can easily understand.

8. Consider the emotions your draft provokes – do YOU feel motivated by your call to action? You want copy that grabs its audience and motivates action. If you felt bored or unsure about its effectiveness, go back and find opportunities to make it more engaging and more emotional. If you can, ask someone else to look over/listen what you’ve writing and find out how they react.

9. Refer to your plan and check that you’ve followed your outline. Have you been clear on what the transformation or result your audience will enjoy as a result of investing in your goods & services? Has this been put across effectively? Does your call to action have all the necessary information needed to move your reader to the next step?

10. Lastly, don’t forget to proof-read your final copy. Run spell-check (or use a dictionary!) and look for punctuation and grammar errors. Any mistake that slips the net and appears in the final edition diminishes its impact and undermines your credibility and reputation.

I’ll be covering this theme in future blogs as part of a very special copywriting event that I’m hosting in July 2011 for business owners & professionals. If you want to have a copywriting expert look over your own marketing content and help you create compelling copy that brings in revenue, register your interest and I’ll be in touch.

Resources

I’ve been updating the titles available from my book resources section -. If you’ve time, please take a look and let me know what else you’d recommend. Thanks! I’ll be adding more titles very shortly so will add your suggestions as well.

Using Social Media for business #2 how to keep friends and influence people

In blog #1 one of this series Using Social Media for Business, we looked at communicating with your target audience through social media. I introduced the likeness of the social media environment to that of a drinks party. Continuing the theme, having made contact with someone who showed an interest in what you, what happens if you suddenly walk away mid-conversation?

Beware – are you commitment-phobic?

Unfortunately, too many businesses take the social media plunge, get themselves a Twitter or Facebook account, dabble in a few tweets, post a few links, correspond with a few individuals and then lose interest or find they don’t have time to tweet regularly. Having created a channel for customer feedback, they may not like the responses they’re receiving. Whatever the reason, they stop Twittering or updating and move on to the next thing.

Having walked away, the business practically boasts about the break-up – the whole thing wasn’t for them, they’re relieved not to be under pressure to perform all the time, and they’re going to chalk the whole affair down under experience.

But what these businesses have failed to understand is that in effect they’d made connections, had conversations, started to build trust, and raise expectations. They were talking to real people who might be potential or existing customers who were prepared to engage with them. In effect, they’d begun to make live relationships with their target audience.

By suddenly breaking off the conservation without notice and effectively walking away, they’d broken socially established codes of behaviour. They also raised questions about their business’s reputation for reliability. Such behaviour can have consequences!

 

Protecting your reputation – do you love and leave your connections?

It’s to be expected that the greater proportion of these abandoned contacts will shrug their shoulders and move on; they might not be impressed by the change of heart but they’ll find others who stay the course – they will build a relationship and loyalty with them. Some followers might be inclined to come back if the offering is something that they can’t resist, but if they do come back they’ll be more wary, expecting another “desertion” or sign of unreliability.

Others who’ve become more involved with the business will be more disappointed… If expectations were raised in terms of standards and service, then an abrupt end will come as a surprise.

How would you feel if you’d been dumped, ignored or side-lined unceremoniously? Obviously, not best pleased! And, human nature being what it is, you’ll want to tell everyone how you’ve been treated! In the same way, these former connections have powerful tools through which to vent their feelings – the internet and social media channels!

What these commitment-phobic businesses discover by their stop-and start- or rather, their start-and-stop approach is that what might have started out as a method of increasing profile and extending opportunities, has the potential to turn into something more reputation-damaging instead. If people are unhappy with what might be perceived as a failure in customer service or unreliability, they’ll tell others in a forum, chat room, comment boxes and Twitter.

As in all relationships, it takes time to build meaningful, lasting associations that will help you meet your business goals. Remember to build this in your business planning and be prepared to last the course. Begin with a realistic expectation that it will take time to find your voice and time to develop a following, and don’t be discouraged if at first no one seems to be listening… If you’ve got the right things to say, you’ll eventually build up your following.

 

Leave them wanting more…

Never forget the golden rule about sales & marketing copy – it’s about the BENEFITS not FEATURES. If you’ve caught your audience’s interest by appealing to their needs or desires or curiosity, they can follow the link you provide them to your appropriate website landing page. That’s when they’ll be able to read more detailed information and sales –driven content.

So to finish today’s blog, here’s some quick tips on creating appealing content which gives your readers a genuine reason to want to stay around:

• What’s in it for them? Emphasise the benefits and solutions you’re offering your audience
• Avoid intermittent updates: if you’re prepared to leave old updates lingering on your site, don’t expect people to wait around for the next post
• Cut back on hard-sell: guide readers to your landing pages where they expect to see a more sale-led approach
• Keep it relevant: your content will be influenced by your objectives and your audience’s expectations
• Trust building: keep true to your values and ethics – don’t be something you’re not

 

Later in the series, I’ll be covering how you can create an editorial schedule that works, how to write relevant content, and how to work with the different social media outlets. If you’d like to be updated on future posts, you can either sub to an RSS feed or email update.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment box below,

Best wishes,

Sumi

Using Social Media for business series #1 Developing your online social skills

 

We’ve all heard about social media tools like Twitter and Facebook but it’s not easy to know where to start and why it’s worth getting involved. Knowing how to present business-related content through social media outlets is a factor many businesses are still getting wrong. Don’t worry – for it to be worth your time and effort, know what you want to get out of it before you start.

If you’re using social media outlets for business reasons, and not just to share your thoughts with the world, then first be clear what your business objectives are. For example:

• Are you selling a product or service?
• Do you have events that you would like people to attend?
• Would you like people to know that you have knowledge and experience in your field?
• Do you want to develop a community of like-minded people?

By establishing your objectives, you’ll be able to choose the right people to “follow” that is, those in the same field, or with a common interest (if you have interesting things to say, they might well follow you back). However, key to this is that by knowing your business intentions, you can write content that’s relevant and targeted to your audience. For example with Twitter, you only have 140 characters to use so you’ll need to make every word count.

Building relationships – customer relationship management with a social media twist

 

Whatever your commercial aims, what you’re actually going to be doing with Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and so on, is making relationships with potential or existing customers and clients. Giving value in your content through some useful information or even, if appropriate, humour, will endear you to your readership and help raise your follower numbers.

And, returning to your business objectives, the point of increased follower numbers is to increase your business opportunities and eventually generate income.

Remember that in this social media world, people are choosing to meet up with you and find out more about what you do. Communicating through this way is not like “interruption advertising” where you’re trying to attract attention through distractive marketing, but rather it’s about providing a steady flow of relevant information to an already receptive audience.

Thus your promotional and sales communications approach will be different to those you employ through traditional advertising. The emphasis will be on messages that demonstrate your understanding and appreciation of your customers’ needs and wants. Through your 140-character tweets and other content you can show you’re able to provide solutions, products, or services which meet these needs and desires.

How are your social skills…?

 

Think of social media in terms of a party where someone likes the look of you and wants to know more. They might start glancing your way, catch your eye, maybe even smile. They’re aware of you and you become aware of them. You both like what you see, and want to know more. Eventually you end up near enough to each other to begin a conversation… So what’s your next move?

• Start shouting at them about your favourite music, books, films, travel spots before they’ve said hello?
• Scream in their face that you’re single, solvent, and available?
• Bellow in their ear how your spouse doesn’t understand you/ you’re in an open relationship “so how about it…? “

Well, of course not!

As in the real world, in the Twittersphere and other social media channels, people don’t want to be sold to in an aggressive, loud, overly-commercial way. They want to know enough about you and your business so that they can grow to trust and like you. They want to be loyal to the business that listens to them, respects them, and meet their needs. They want you to show them that you are that business.

Sounds a bit touchy-feely, perhaps? Well, let’s put it this way, would you do business or spend money with people you didn’t know or trust…?

Think before you type…

 

So before you set up and account and start typing, do your homework first:

• Work out what you want to get from your social media experience
• Think about how you’re going to achieve this
• Review your marketing and promotional approaches – is it appropriate to the channel and your audience?
• Avoid hard-selling, aggressively commercial message and engage with your readers

   

In the next post, I’ll look at the consequences when you break the social taboos and walk away from your social media relationships! If you’d like to be updated on future posts, you can either sub to an RSS feed or email update.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment box below,

Best wishes,

Sumi

Part two of “To tweet or not to tweet… should your business get involved with Social Media? Using appropriate Social Media platforms for research and customer engagement

 

Welcome!

 

PART ONE of my overview to Social Media (SM) and businesses, touched on the impact SM can have on a business’s relationship with their customers and on their brand identity. In this concluding post, I’m looking at the need to select an appropriate Social Media platform for your business and for real success, write a Social Media Strategy.

I will be going into the topics covered in this introductory series in more depth in future posts. Please feel free to RSS my posts to keep up to date!

Have you chosen the appropriate Social Media platforms for your business?

 

Businesses new to Social Media are often overwhelmed by the different Social Media platforms that are available. Almost everyone has heard of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some people will be familiar with other sites such as Bebo, LinkedIn and Digg. Business owners under pressure to get on board the Social Media bandwagon, open accounts with these Social Networks, post a few tweets or updates, and then somehow, lose momentum…

They’ve ended up in one or more of the following scenarios:

• they’re unconvinced by the ineffectiveness of Social Media as they lack an immediate and large following
• they find the ROI too low in terms of the time invested and lack of income generated
• they can’t keep up with the content stream necessary
• they only have the time to post only erratically

Whatever the reason for their unrealistic expectations, the experience leaves them disinclined to continue with Social Media as a tool to market their services and raise income.

What a pity…

These businesses have failed to do their necessary market research or business planning before embarking on the Social Media journey. Clearly, knowing which Social Media platforms your customers are using (and for what purpose) will inform your decisions on which content distribution formats to use (i.e. what networks you’ll use to dispense your message) and how to put together your promotional campaigns.

For example, research indicates that consumers favour Facebook for their main SM platform, followed by Twitter and YouTube. If your main sales approach is B2C (Business to Consumer) then it makes sense to concentrate your efforts on these sites. After all, this is where your potential and existing customers are likely to be.

LinkedIn is the leading professional networking site, followed by ecademy.com and if you are selling a B2B (Business to Business) product or service, these are relevant Social Networks where you can find your customer base.

Your own market research and analysis will tell you which Social Network (s) to pursue based on the profile of your target customer and the demographics of the Social Network concerned. Be aware that the etiquette and expectations of each Social Network (SN) are different and you need to understand them before attempting to promote or sell your services.

Assuming your messages resonate with your target audience and you appear on the right search results, you have the ability to promote and sell to a large amount of people (who are actively interested in your field).

In future posts, I’ll be looking at specific techniques of marketing and promoting your products and services on these different Social Networking platforms.

 

Create a Social Media Strategy that fits your business’ objectives

 

Given the importance and impact Social Media can have your business, it’s very clear that compiling a Social Media strategy should be your number one consideration. Many SMEs dip into Social Media without thinking ahead, find the experience too difficult or time-consuming , and pull out.

Setting out clear, achievable and measureable business objectives is essential – i.e. what do you want from your Social Media activity and how will you measure success – visitors to site? Units sold/places booked? Number of subscribers?

To draw in a community and maintain their interest, you’ll need to produce a steady stream of high-quality, entertaining, and relevant content. A business which “twitters”, and has a Facebook page or LinkedIn profile, will be able to direct visitors to their website where they can be led to follow a particular call to action or generate valuable feedback. However, this level of engagement takes effort to maintain.

While SM is often promoted as a no-cost, high-impact method of promoting and selling services, there is an actual cost in terms of time and effort. Short, regular bursts (little and often) work well. Build in the time for participating in Social Networking into your business operations. If necessary, outsource or make necessary staffing adjustments to support this regular output.

To keep track of their activities and to make the process more time-efficient, businesses use online tools that help them send out specific content to selected networks and even control the timing and frequency of the updates.

I will cover these aggregate services in future posts, but a few to consider are Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for twitter updates and as well as Mybloglog for blogs and Plugged.it (which describes itself as “a social network that’s for people who want to promote“).

Content is reproduced in various formats: written (blogs, web content, email marketing, twitter, Facebook special groups and pages, PDFs, eBooks, white papers), audio (narratives, teleseminars, web page commentaries and podcasts) and increasingly, video (it is becoming much easier to create affordable video blogs and video presentations. These add impact to your website and provide valuable information to your customers before they commit to your call to action).

Creating compelling content takes time, effort and for the multi-media options, money. Yet, if done well, the response from already active and interested customers can be impressive; a business that takes the time and trouble to anticipate and answer their customers’ questions, will enjoy a higher conversion rate than one that doesn’t.

Focus, Clarity, Direction…

 

For many SMEs and individuals, investing in your website and accompanying Social Media machinery is a real alternative to hiring a sales team to find and convert customers. The reach is greater, you can target messages to reflect your different types of customer, and marketing content can be revised and updated almost in real time without incurring extra costs.

Social Media provides businesses of all sizes the ability to build relationships with their customers and create a loyal following. It also allows you to reinforce the brand identify that you’ve created. With such obvious benefits, it’s important that you make the right decisions before making a start…

Avoid the scattergun, crisis-management approach and instead, exercise patience; do your research, be focused, and PLAN AHEAD. Successful businesses have simply recognised that Social Media is an integral part of their marketing mix. By amalgamating their offline and online strategies, they increase profile and impact. With appropriate planning, so can you.

Having introduced a few terms and concepts on Social Media, I will be adding further posts that will cover topics in a little more depth. I look forward to sharing your thoughts,

Sumi

Olson Sales & Marketing Services

http://www.olsonservices.co.uk

Twitter: @ sumiolson

To tweet or not to tweet… should your business get involved with Social Media?

Welcome!

This blog is the first of a two-part introductory series that explores the benefits of using Social Media to sell or promote a product or service.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be adding further information and discussion based on the these key themes that this series has highlighted. For updates about future posts, please subscribe using the links provided.

 

Today, I’m touching on Social Media and how it affects customer relationship and brand identity.

The impact of Social Media
The growth of Social Media (SM) is a new and explosive trend, evolving rapidly just in the last five years. Its steady growth reflects the growing number of technological advances, accompanied by accessible pricing options for users. Significantly, many key Social Media tools are free to access and allow individuals and businesses to have a reach of millions within a global setting.

This geographical reach allows businesses to communicate directly with existing and potential customers locally, nationally, and internationally. Yet many SMEs are still unclear on how to make the best use of Social Media, and remain to be convinced of its value.

For individuals and SMEs using SM strategically within set business goals, the power of Social Media is increasingly clear.

 

Using Social Media to build relationships
One of SM’s primary strengths is the concept of engagement with customers. With increasing opportunities for interaction, both existing & potential customers/communities have new expectations of how a business should work with them.

Through Social Networks such as Facebook or Twitter, they want to interact with their chosen businesses and they want to know, (and “feel”) how your business and your business brand aligns with their own personal brands and values. In short, people are willing to do business with people they like and trust.

Decisive factors in why a customer decides to build a bond with you:

Desire – they want what you’ve got!

Ethics – they like the way you work

Sheer gut instinct  – they “like” or “get” you.

By collaborating on discussions surrounding ideas related to your industry and your business, and revealing your own (and the business’) ethics and values, you can build a  good relationship between you and the target community.

These are relationships which haven’t been paid for or cost very little (in cash terms), with people who have indicated interest in your business’ products/services. In direct marketing terms, these are hundreds or (if you’re really successful), thousands of “hot” contacts who want to do business with you!

In future posts, I’ll be looking at how you can develop relationships with your customers in more detail…

 

Using Social Media to support your Brand

A revolutionary aspect of SM is its ability to amplify Word of Mouth (WOM) recommendations to a wider audience. Your customers and potential customers can talk about you among themselves at their own leisure. Moreover, they’ll do so at great length if they’re either pleased or unhappy with your business or service!

SM is built on the philosophy of collaboration and shared opinion so feedback can be forthright, honest, or occasionally, even rude!

It’s in your best interest to take all opinions without rancour and try to put right what you might have done wrong. Using tools such as Google Alerts, or Twitter search, you can see comments made about your business and take proper action such as dealing with complaints, or thanking contributors for their positive remarks.

Getting actively involved and giving value are key tenets in SM relationships and if you show how you listen and respond, or are appreciative of customer feedback, you will have created good will as well as loyal followers.

Brand identity is important for individuals and businesses who wish to connect with potential customers and subscribers.  I’ll be adding further posts and resources to help you create a strong, relevant brand which will resonate with your target groups…

 

Part two of “To tweet or not to tweet… should your business get involved with Social Media?”
My next post in this introductory series will look at Appropriate Social Media Platforms for Research and Engagement and Identifying your Social Media Strategy. After this, I’ll be getting into Social Media Marketing in more depth! If you are interesting in learning more, please feel free to subscribe.

I look forward to sharing thoughts and experiences!

Sumi